How to Run a Black Friday Sale on Shopify

Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) is the busiest, highest-stakes weekend of the retail year. A smooth BFCM sale on Shopify comes down to one thing: planning it far enough ahead that the weekend itself is hands-off. Here's a practical run-through.

Plan the offer before November

Decide the structure. One storewide discount is simplest. Tiered or category-specific deals can work but add complexity — keep it manageable.
Check your margins. Know the floor you can afford on each product before you commit to a headline percentage.
Set the exact dates and times. Decide when the sale starts (often midnight Friday) and when it ends (usually end of Monday).

Schedule everything in advance

The mistake that ruins BFCM weekends is doing things live. Instead:

Build the sale a week or two early with all products, discounts, and compare-at prices set.
Schedule the start and end times so the sale fires and closes on its own across the whole weekend.
Stage follow-on deals — like a Cyber Monday twist — as separate scheduled sales so they swap over automatically.

Don't forget the basics

Stock. Make sure bestsellers can survive a traffic spike.
Site speed. Test your store under load before the weekend.
Support. Have answers ready for shipping cut-offs and returns.
The wind-down. Plan how prices revert so you're not resetting the store on Tuesday morning.

Get the schedule right and BFCM becomes a weekend you watch, not one you work through.

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